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A Whole New World (of Warcraft) #8: Looking For Group

But it wasn't always thus. Once upon a time, players in World of Warcraft could only play with members of their own servers, which created a powerful sense of community that no longer really exists. I miss this. You couldn't transfer to another server, you couldn't change your race or your name, and switching between Horde and Alliance was utterly unthinkable. In short, you had to live with the decisions you made. On my server (Alleria), players quickly found themselves ostracized by the community if they ninja-looted (i.e., took loot without giving the rest of the party a chance to roll on it) or repeatedly caused their comrades to die in dungeons by pulling enemies before everyone was ready. Since everyone knew each other with almost real-life familiarity, such antics could prevent you from ever getting back into a group again. The former system also meant that you had to learn to work with what you had. If a player was performing poorly in a group, you gave him or her some pointers on how to fix their play style, or you risked more failure -- since bringing in another player wasn't always an option. By the time you finished one of the more epic dungeons like Blackrock Depths, you knew these people. Some of my favorite experiences in World of Warcraft revolved around those long instances and world events with players outside my guild.

Hints of this exist even now. Cataclysm's increased dungeon difficulty initially brought back some of that camaraderie I mentioned above, since everyone was forced to work and speak together to get through the dungeons. I met many players from other servers that I felt like inviting to my guild. Even now, many players still happily explain an encounter to inexperienced players, since it means getting out of the dungeon faster (and most take only a line or two to explain). I'm also well aware that jerks have always existed in World of Warcraft, and I dutifully keep my server's trade channel turned off until I need it. I love my guild and everyone in it, and plenty of wonderful people play on every server I've encountered. I've found excellent random groups through the Random Dungeon Finder that stayed together for hours because we didn't want to break the rhythm. Even the daily quests in Tol Barad -- the new outdoor player-versus-player zone -- bring back some of those happy memories of grouping with others on the same server.

But here's what often happens today, thanks to the random nature of the new dungeon queues: On at least eight occasions in the last two months I've seen players get kicked from a random dungeon group simply because they said they've never fought the boss before, and would like a few tips. Mind you, that's just for asking before the fight. This is particularly damning if they're a damage-dealing character, since it usually takes them around 45 minutes to get into another instance. I admit that I've only spoken up on one of these occasions, out of fear that the boot-happy group would kick me too. On countless other occasions, I've seen players quit the group or get kicked after only one failed attempt. No words of advice, no bemused checks to see if anyone needs a tip or two. And instead of offering helpful guidance, many players instead resort to insults. Stranger still is the refusal by many players encountered using the Random Dungeon Finder to call others by their character names. Is it really so hard to call the tank something other than "Paladin?"

Also, thanks to their short queues, the players you encounter through the Random Dungeon Finder are sometimes comically snippy. In my personal favorite example, our decent healer politely left in the middle of a heroic Deadmines run back in early January, because his baby was crying. Fair enough... but he left us standing before a group of four or so non-boss enemies that we refused to attack without a healer. We hadn't wiped, but I could see where it looked like we had -- with the upshot that it also looked like the healer had left out of frustration. Healer after healer zoned in via the random generator to see what we were standing in front of, and zoned out again within seconds, assuming the worst. One said, "You guys wiped on that? Fail." and left before we could say anything. Another joined the group from the random group generator and said "Lawl" and split. This went on for three more healers, and about 15 more minutes. Finally, one zoned in and I yelled, "HEY, IT WASN'T OUR FAULT!" before he could leave. Luckily, this guy had a sense of humor, and turned out to be pretty useful.

But I no longer feel any real connection with the server at large, and the problems I've mentioned seem worse than they ever did in the game's early years. Even when I join server-based pick-up raids like the one in Tol Barad, I feel like a number, not a name. Yes, I know what to expect in pick-up groups, and I know that playing with my guild is safer. But it wasn't always quite as extreme as this, and I'm pretty sure I'm not wearing rose-colored glasses. With the new solo leveling experience, phased zones, and scripted encounters, it's now possible to level from 1 to 85 without ever having to interact with anyone who shares the server with you. Dungeons are slowly becoming jobs again, instead of memorable experiences. Whole instances go by without any players saying a single word. Indeed, World of Warcraft looks increasingly inward, not outward. At best, it sometimes feels like playing Dragon Age without being able to control the other characters; at worst, it's like watching an interactive movie.

I have the advantage of having played off and on for six years, and I've thus built a fairly large group of friends... but I can't even imagine how this must seem to new players. Until level 85, World of Warcraft must strike new players as massively weak in the "massively multiplayer" regard. And thanks to the completely solo leveling experience, it's possible they could enter a level 85 dungeon and have absolutely no idea how to perform in a group if they never queued while leveling up. And if that happens, I have no doubt they'd get the boot.

Is any of this Blizzard's fault? Only in the sense that they've made internal server interaction much less necessary than it used to be. It is, after all, still quite possible to ask for a group within your server's trade or general chat channels and, of course, you can do pretty much anything with your guild. But I really miss the old community, and I know it's gone forever. I miss knowing that how I acted toward my fellow players always had consequences; it kind of made the world seem more real. And even if my fellow players were jerks, at least I felt like I knew them -- and that, I think, is what I've missed most over the last few expansions.

But when things get really bad, I always tell myself one thing: At least it's not Xbox Live.